


Under the Dome

by youreyestheyglow



Series: The Night Life [3]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale, wtnv
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Smut, same shit as the other two parts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-20
Updated: 2013-08-20
Packaged: 2017-12-24 02:21:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/934051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youreyestheyglow/pseuds/youreyestheyglow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil and Carlos argue. No make-up sex, sorry. Smut will come later, I’m sure. This chapter is angst and fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Cecil stood in front of Station Management's door.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"You won't let me go into the Dog Park, so yes."

"All you've done is prevent a librarian from mauling a kid and save the biographies section. I don't know if you should take something on that's s-"

"Hush. I'll be all right. Now move out of the way."

Carlos stood back, so that Station Management couldn't quite see him. Cecil took a deep breath. And another one. He didn't look nervous. But Carlos knew better.

Cecil reached forward and grabbed the doorhandle. He turned it slowly and pushed the door open.

Instantly, there was a soul-crushing screech, and a strange clicking sound. A strange light eminated from the room. Cecil stood calmly in the line of fire. Carlos badly wanted to turn away - couldn't watch Cecil die - knew he was going to die too so it didn't matter - but couldn't stop looking - would stand there until the end of time -

"Stop.  **Stop. Stay there. Stand where you are.** "

The strange clicking sound was still advancing. Cecil shouted admonitions at it, but it kept coming. And then it peeked its head out.

It was like an angel and an octopus had a child. It was a cloud - sort of - but it had eyes. Lots and lots and lots of eyes. And tentacles, emerging from the dark cloud. There was no sign of a human body. And it stood in front of Cecil and raised a tentacle.

And then Cecil reached into the cloud and - squeezed. " **I am Cecil Baldwin and you cannot hurt me.** "

Shock expressed in two eyes in one thing; shock expressed in hundreds was another. All eyes stared, wide and unblinking, at this comparatively tiny human being with his hand in an unknown area of the thing's body. 

The silence stretched out. No one moved. Carlos wanted to tell Cecil that he'd gone far enough, that that was enough for today, that he'd pushed his luck so far that they were bound to die horribly within the next few minutes, but didn't want to draw attention to himself.

Finally, Cecil withdrew his hand. All eyes moved again, and the creature scuttled back into its office. The door slammed shut. Cecil sat down where he was - or collapsed where he was, one or the other. Perhaps his legs gave out. Carlos slid to the ground beside him. "Are you all right? What did you have a hold of?" If you say 'balls', I'm breaking up with you.

"Its heart."

"It has a heart?"

"All things have a heart. It might not look like a human heart, but it's a heart."

"What was making the clicking noise?"

"I have no idea."

Carlos stood and hoisted Cecil into a standing position. "Are you all right? It didn't, like, telepathically drain you of energy or something, right?"

"No. But I might need to change my pants."

"That's hot."

"Shut up."

"Wow, did you just tell me to shut up? That's almost the same thing as a curse!" Carlos placed Cecil in the car and shut the door, leaving him in the dark and causing him to miss Cecil's mumbled response. "Maybe tomorrow we should try something a little less terrifying, like the -"

"I want to go into the Dog Park."

"What is it with you and the Dog Park?"

"What is it with you and the void?"

"I asked first."

Cecil glared at him for several minutes before he broke.

"I want to see the stars. And it would be nice to look up at the sky without the accompanying burst of soul-searing anguish."

"I want to get Dana out before she dies."

Carlos sighed. "I want you to practice before you take on something too difficult and die."

"I want to save a life to help make up for all the ones I neglected to save in the past."

"But think of all the lives you'll be able to save in the future if you build up your strength!"

"You just think I'm not good enough to do it."

Carlos pulled into the driveway and turned the car off. "Never think that."

Cecil got out of the car and slammed the door shut behind him.

They'd both been living in Carlos's house. Cecil hadn't exactly moved out of his house, but he may as well have. Maybe that was why they were having problems. Or maybe it was because Cecil's entire world had been flipped - turned upside down, on its head, done a full 180. He'd gone from being a passive narrator to an active saviour. And he'd found out that he could have prevented nearly every death for as long as he could remember. And Cecil was taking that to mean that he was  _responsible_ for every death. And Carlos privately agreed that he could have prevented them all, but gave him none of the blame; it was like if you were staring at the Mona Lisa and someone was shot behind you. If you'd turned around, you'd have noticed and you could have said something and saved a life. But why would you turn around? You didn't  _know_ there was a life to be saved, you didn't know there was anything to do to save a life, and you were staring at the damned  _Mona Lisa._ There was no reason for you to turn around. 

Carlos found Cecil in the shower. He wondered if Cecil had actually pissed himself. He didn't check. Instead he went and sat down on the floor of the bathroom. The mirror was covered in steam. Carlos wasn't sure if he was sweating or if the water had latched onto his skin. There was no noise from inside the shower. Cecil was waiting. For what, Carlos wasn't sure. 

"Ceece..." he trailed off. There had been a sentence there, he was sure of it. But just like all the times he'd found something and didn't know it, it had slipped away from him, tugging at his subconscious like a fish hook. "Ceece, I know you feel guilty. I do. But there was  _nothing you could have done._ You didn't know. You  _still_ don't really know. Something happened that erased your memories. It's not your fault, and you couldn't have done anything." He heard the sound of skin catching against ceramic as Cecil slid down the side of the shower and knew that if he pushed aside the shower curtain, Cecil would be sitting next to him. "I don't want you to go into the Dog Park because I'm scared. It's not because I don't think you can do it. Hell, I'm 98% sure you  _can_ do it. All this shit is based on my own damn hypothesis, for god's sake. And if I was in your place, I'd have run over to the Dog Park as soon as I found out I could. But there's a problem with me. For the first time in my life -" Carlos felt his mouth quirk up into a smile - "I've met someone who makes me think irrationally. And instead of thinking through it, I hit a roadblock. So what if there's a 98 percent chance that you'll survive, so what if I'd consider that near-perfect odds under other circumstances - there's a 2 percent chance you won't survive, and that risk is way higher than I can handle." He took a deep breath. "So if you want to go to the Dog Park tomorrow, I'll come too. But if you don't come back out within ten minutes, I'm coming in there too. Because I'd rather die with you than live without you. And yes, I know, it's very 'Romeo and Juliet'. And yes, I know, they were stupid teenagers. But fuck it. If I'm going to be irrational, I'm going to irrationalize myself to death."

The curtain swished aside. Cecil sat there in the bathtub, water hitting his knees and streaming down his legs. "I don't think irrationalize is a word."

"It's not. I made it up."

"I thought you spent most of your life proving that made-up things can't exist?"

"Well. Things change. Did you really pee your pants?"

"No, asshole. No, I did not."

"Hey, I had to ask. You know, for someone who spent quite some time yelling at me for not defending myself, you're quite willing to march right into life-or-death situations, and very angry at me for getting annoyed at you for it."

"Two different situations."

Carlos placed his hand on the rim of the bathtub. Cecil looked at it for a minute, and then intertwined his fingers with Carlos's. "How are they any different?"

"Well, in one, you should have done something but didn't. In the other, I didn't know I could do anything, and now I am."

"That's definitely a logical fallacy of some sort. Rephrasing? Reframing? In one, I'm stuck in a dangerous situation. In the other, you're walking calmly and knowingly to your death bed. Yours is much worse."

"Everyone has to die some day. I'd rather die saving someone else than old and deranged."

"And I'd much rather have you old and deranged and alive than young, sane, and dead. Also, let's not talk about your death anymore."

"Can we talk about someone else's death?"

"Sure."

"Dana."

"Isn't dead."

"But could be, soon."

"And I said I wouldn't stop you."

"Unless I'm in there for more than ten minutes."

"If you're in there for that long, I'll assume you've got everything under control and nothing will touch me."

"But what if your presence screws it up?"

"Fine. Bring your phone. Text me after ten minutes. If anything's wrong - if my phone starts bleeding or screaming or doing anything out of the ordinary - I'm coming in."

"Acceptable."

Carlos kissed Cecil's forehead. "I'm going to sleep."

"I'll be in in ten minutes."

"Don't wake me up."

But despite the length of the day and the harrowing ten minutes of that evening, Carlos found himself wide awake and worrying again. There was nothing he could do to stop tomorrow from happening, nothing he could do to make the night last longer. And Cecil wouldn't wait around, either. He'd go early in the morning, when he could take his time and not worry about missing work. And he would be terrified. And he'd do it anyway. And there was nothing Carlos could do to stop it. 

A couple years ago, Carlos wouldn't have bothered trying to sleep. He had never been able to sleep right away, finding himself locked in a spiral of anxiety and fear and self-hatred. But there were no longer any stars for him to look at; there was arguably no sky. So he was stuck, waiting, trapped inside his own mind, until Cecil silently opened the door and crept into bed. Somehow, this man, this one human being, who might not even be human - this alien being, this creature, tall and thin and with more appendages than Carlos had ever thought possible - this thing that should have been a horrific creature from whom Carlos should have run at first sight - had replaced the stars. But maybe replaced wasn't the right word. Outstripped was better. An alien creature with no memories from an unknown planet with an unknown family had outstripped the stars. And Cecil worked his magic, putting Carlos to sleep in five minutes, and putting the stars to shame.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do not. Go in. The Dog Park.  
> Or do, whatever suits you. Ya know.

Cecil woke up early the next morning, the bed creaking quietly underneath him as he rose. 

"What, ready to leave already?" Carlos grumbled.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," Cecil said in a hushed voice, as though maybe if he was quiet enough Carlos would go back to sleep. 

But there was no chance of that. "It's fine." He swung himself out of bed and found his way to the bathroom sink and a toothbrush. 

Neither of them ate breakfast. 

Cecil was acting like he'd drunk five cups of coffee. 

"We could put this off -"

"No. I'm going today."

"Ten minutes. You have ten minutes."

"If you come in after me and get killed, I'm going to find your ghost and smack it."

"Ten minutes."

"You keep saying it."

"Don't you dare forget."

The drive to the Dog Park was silent, except for the sound of Cecil's shoe tapping against the door. He seemed unable to stop. Carlos didn't ask him to. 

They parked down the block.

"If Dana survived, I can too, right?"

"Right."

Carlos didn't know who was reassuring whom.

"And if I can just get her out -"

"No. If you can get  _both of you_ out. She's survived several months. I don't want you to be in there for nearly that long. Not because I don't think you could do it," he cut off Cecil's protests, "but because I don't think I could do it." He got out of the car.

Cecil shut the door and grabbed Carlos's hand. 

They walked shakily to the gates of the Dog Park.

No one who had ever come this close had survived. Except Dana.

Cecil grabbed Carlos's face and kissed him, and then pushed open the gates and disappeared. 

Carlos checked his phone. 

7:20.

He alternated between checking the time and checking the gates. Sometimes he fantasized that he could see a shape moving behind them, a shape made of two people, one of whom he knew down to the arch in his foot and another, which he could only imagine.

7:30.

He put his phone in his pocket and took a deep breath.

His phone buzzed.

He had never read a text so quickly.

_I'm fine. I've found Dana. We'll be out in five minutes._

Five minutes. Carlos counted down the seconds.

They came out seven seconds early. For a moment, he thought Cecil had brought a hooded figure - but no, there was a person under that cloak. She shrugged the hood off and took a deep breath.

Dana was dark-skinned and thin, unhealthily thin. She had high, prominent cheekbones, and eyes that were such a dark brown they could almost be considered black. 

"The air out here is much lighter."

"You mean cleaner?" Carlos asked.

"No, I mean lighter. It's dark in there. You're Carlos the scientist, aren't you? Are you here for an experiment? Or..." she glanced at Cecil, who blushed. 

"Cecil and I are dating, if that's what you mean."

"Uh huh. Can we go out to eat? I've sort of been living on whatever the dude in the tan jacket brings me, and it's usually covered in flies by the time I get it."

"Sure. Big Rico's?"

"Literally anything."

They had pizza at Big Rico's, during which Dana regaled them with her tale of survival. She had remained still during the initial culling, when the running and screaming people had generally been eaten. She'd found a black cloak hidden under a rock, which she later found out had been left by the man in the tan jacket, who had liked her ability to remain calm. She'd discovered that the Hooded Figures were essentially blind in the Dog Park, and that wearing a cloak was enough to deceive them, so long as she remained in the shadows and said nothing. When she was with Tan Jacket, she was essentially untouchable. She texted updates whenever she was sure no one would see the light of the phone. 

She ate voraciously, putting away half a pizza before she sat back and declared herself full. "I should probably get back to the Dog Park now."

"What? But I -"

"Thought I wanted out? Nah, just a good meal. But the man in the tan jacket is in there, and I don't think he likes coming out here. Says it's too earthly for him."

"You're better friends with a guy in a tan jacket than you are with anyone out here?" Carlos asked curiously.

"Well..." she struggled for words for a minute. "He's very nice, and a little lonely. And I can't remember what he looks like, but I know that when I look at him I think he's hot. And the people out here have other people, and he doesn't. So yeah. Back to the Dog Park."

"Do you want to take some food with you?"

She waved a hand. "Too conspicuous. I'll be all right." She left, presumably to walk back to the Dog Park.

"Bu-but - I -"

"She must really like him," Carlos commented over Cecil's stuttering protestations. 

"Like him? What are you talking about?"

"Tan Jacket. She must love him quite a bit."

"How do you -?"

"She's willing to put herself in mortal danger every day to see him."

"And how do you know that means love?" Cecil asked indignantly.

"Because if you were in there, I'd never leave the place."

Cecil flushed bright, angry red. "Don't you - don't you dare - don't even  _think_  - if I EVER end up in a dangerous situation, don't you DARE come looking for me. How could I - don't even think about it. Swear. Swear that we won't have a Romeo and Juliet story, that we won't die together in some entirely unromantic, horrible, not-love story. More like - Titanic. Rose lets Jack go and lives. That's good, normal. Healthy. Don't you DARE try to die with me in some faux-heroic, heart-wrenchingly sad manner. Got it?"

"See, this is why I can't let you do anything dangerous, I'd just run in there after you and - I swear, I swear," he said hastily, noting the instant change in skin color. "I swear I won't run after you. Just - for me, let's try the void next, okay? Don't try - taking on the city council or something, or facing the Hooded Figures head on, or erasing the Glow Cloud from existance. Ok? For me?"

Cecil rolled his eyes. "You just want me to stay out of danger for as long as possible. You think erasing the void is going to take a long time."

"Yes, actually. And it's in your best interest too, because if you're not in danger, there's no chance of me running after you and dying."

Cecil heaved a deep sigh. "Fine."

 

No fewer than two weeks later, the void hadn't budged, and Cecil had spent hours cursing at Carlos for, he was sure, tampering with something to make it last longer. Carlos had spent days worrying, wondering if there was something wrong with Cecil, or Night Vale, or the void, or if the void was permanent, or if his theory was off by miles and it was something totally different. He eventually decided that it was more likely that the void would weaken and then disappear all at once, mostly because Cecil would probably keep going at it for another week or so if he thought that was the case. 

He stood right next to the pine tree broadcasting the message to stay away. He'd tried touching it, leaning against it, even hugging it - nothing had made any difference. Night and day, the void remained. 

Carlos would never tell him, but it was hilarious, watching him wander around the tree, telling it in his meanest voice to  **stop this message. Cease broadcasting. Destroy the void.** when the tree just friggin sat there like it was a normal tree, the lying little shit. 

Carlos stood there, quietly, wishing the void would go away. It was more trouble than it was worth. Of course, it was worth jack shit, but still. 

Cecil paused in his ceaseless circling of the tree. "Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"The - there! There it was again!" he said, looking around like something was going to fall out of the sky.

"There was what again?"

"Th-"

There was a flash of light. For a moment, the ground shook underneath Carlos, like it was trying to divest itself of an enormous fly. And then it stopped and the light went away, and Carlos blinked, and Cecil was gone. 

"Cecil?" he yelled. "Cecil? CECIL!" 

People were yelling in the distance. He ran to get a better view. Was -? But no; Cecil wasn't there. They were all pointing at the sky. Carlos looked up.

The void was gone; stars shone up above. 

Carlos ran back to the pine tree. He walked around it, retracing Cecil's steps. He stopped where Cecil had stood, rocking back and forth. The ground felt no softer here than elsewhere; nothing otherworldly floated in the sky above his head. The tree stood next to him, just as innocent as it had been five minutes ago. And Cecil was gone. 

And an epiphany rocked through Carlos, something he should have thought of earlier - that Cecil  _was_ the void, that was why he'd been able to see it, that was why he'd been able to see everything but had no memories of anything - how could one remember a void? And of course he'd gone - the void had disappeared. Accidental suicide. 

Carlos felt something move and wondered if the ground was shaking again, but no, it was just - he was on the ground, his legs had given out. "Cecil." "Cecil, I'm so sorry." "Cecil, I never should have made you do this." "Cecil, was that why you were so scared? You knew you would die?" "Cecil, come back." "Cecil." "Cecil." 

And then, some time later - a few minutes? Hours? Centuries? Who cared? - his voice gave out, and the voices were in his head.  _Cecil._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok I lied, this is the last chapter before I probably go on hiatus for like four days.  
> thanks to those who wished me luck in college :)  
> and keep an eye on my tag on tumblr (Julia’s WTNV fanfic), even though it seems to be broken because it never updates? I don’t know. But I announce fic updates on that tag.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How could I possibly kill off poor, innocent, Cecil? Here's the last part of the explanation of Night Vale's existence and Cecil's connection to it.

Carlos sat against the pine tree, watching people run past him. The appearance of the stars had been the single best thing to happen to the residents of Night Vale. Did they know the cost? Would they care? Of course not. What was one radio show host in exchange for the stars?

But they didn't know what Carlos knew. They didn't see the stars for what they were. Impossibly far away, distance making them paradoxically cold, they stared down at the inhabitants of Earth, uncaring, unloving.

Cecil had been here, he had been real, warm, close. He had been loving and caring and terrifying and amazing and intelligent and incredibly alive. And now he was gone. In exchange for the damn stars. 

And then there was a flash of light, and someone tripped over him. "Carlos? What are you doing on the ground?"

Carlos stood slowly. "Cecil. Of course. Of course, the one time I let myself get all irrational after having an epiphony of immense proportions, I turn out to be completely wrong."

"What are you talking about? What epiphany?" Cecil was nearly jumping, excited about something. 

"An incorrect one. Why are you excited?" He found himself grinning as he reached forward and took Cecil's hand. It was warm, and close, and real, and better than any star, including their own sun. 

"I have some people for you to meet." His third eye opened, and he took two steps forward and disappeared.

His hand was still in Carlos's, and Cecil tugged insistantly. So he followed.

And found himself in an enormous room. The ceiling was a dome, far up above. The walls were just as far away, hardly visible in the distance.  

He was surrounded by aliens, of all different shapes and sizes. He tensed. 

"Carlos, I remember now. I remember  _everything_. And it's all because I pulled down the void." He kissed Carlos on the cheek. "I should have done it ages ago. But you know what? I would never even have thought about it if it weren't for you."

"So you're not the void."

"What? No."

"Just the reason for the void."

"Also no." Cecil looked overjoyed to know something that Carlos didn't. "No, I'm an alien."

"Well, that I knew."

"You did?"

"Night Vale isn't exactly a product of earth. And if you were tied to it, than you weren't a product of earth either."

"What else do you know?"

"Not much."

"Ok. These aliens - my family - place their young in an incubator-thing, which allows the kid to explore their imagination and learn things about the world and do all sorts of cool things. The planet is like a big ship, it flies through space, but it's technically in another plane of existance. 

"When I was little, the ship was flying past earth, and it sort of - bumped into it. Something happened, anyway, and my incubator was jostled, and fell off the ship, and onto earth. It stopped in the middle of a desert, and stayed there. And the incubators are programmed to put up a defensive shield if they leave the ship, and that's what mine did. So it held Night Vale, which is essentially my incubator, out of  _both_ planes of existence, preventing it from becoming part of earth. But it also prevented the ship from finding me. And when I brought down the defensive shield - the void - my incubator fell into earth, and became a place that could be found. And my family grabbed me and took me back to the ship."

"Why do you look human?"

"Remember how I said kids could use their imagination? Well, I was in there for too long, and my imagination became reality. And when people started moving into Night Vale, I started imagining myself as one of them, and became human. So you were right about the tattoos. I sort of... created most of the things in Night Vale. And I... let them run free."

"Are we inside the ship now?"

"We're on top of it." Cecil led him through throngs of aliens, all of whom stared at them as they passed, and a long walk later, they arrived at a door. Cecil pushed it open. 

The first thing Carlos saw - was Earth. Spinning just in front of them, it was just as beautiful as in the pictures. 

The second thing he saw was the ship. But it wasn't really a ship. It was a planet. Black, covered in jagged mountains and dark forests, and possibly oceans - he could hear the crash of waves in the distance. "Is this really a ship?"

"Well, it doesn't have any particular orbit, and it was originally made by my species, so I think it counts."

"Originally made by your species?"

"They're big on imagination. So they created the framework, and it grew from there."

"Oh."

They stared at the landscape that stretched on in front of them. It went on for miles, an unknown distance, possibly one that never ended. If the thing grew on its own and was fed by imagination, it could be infinitely big with an unknown geography. Carlos had the sudden urge to walk forward, in a straight line, and see if he ever made it back to this point. But Cecil's hand, warm and close, was still in his, and it held him there. An anchor in time and space in a world of stars. 

"So how did everyone in Night Vale react? I mean, the stars are there now, right?"

"Yeah. They're all running and pointing. I think they're having an existential crisis. A bigger one than normal, anyway."

"Good."

Carlos waited a moment, unsure of how to phrase it. He didn't want to influence Cecil's decision. Eventually he decided on the most straightforward way. "Are you staying here or returning to Night Vale?" Short, to the point, gave no indication of Carlos's own future plans. 

Cecil turned to face him. "Are you staying here? Because if you thought Night Vale was scientifically interesting, this ship is about fifteen times cooler."

"I'm not answering until I know what you're doing. I don't want to influence you."

"That's not an answer."

"You answered my question with a totally unrelated question of your own!"

"Because my answer depends on yours!"

"But my answer depends on yours too!"

"You're a scientist, what does it matter what other people do?" Cecil cried frustratedly. "I'm just an alien radio show host! I depnd on other people! Report on them! Without them, I'd have nothing to do!"

"So you're going back to Night Vale?"

Cecil slumped forward. "I want to go back to Night Vale. This has been nice, but it's not home. But if you're staying, I'd rather be here."

Carlos grabbed Cecil in a hug. "Thank god. Thank god for you. Thank god your incubator fell. Thank god for every little thing that led to you being in my life. I'm not going any place you aren't, you moron. Didn't I explain that already? If it weren't for you I'd have left Night Vale a long time ago. If you decided to stay here, I'd pack up my stuff and move in with you. But if you're staying in Night Vale, you are damn well moving in with me, and I'll help you do whatever you want - kill off every evil thing in there, restrain them, let them run rampant, I don't care. Just as long as I'm with you."

"Do you still want to leave Night Vale?"

"Not particularly, no. I've gotten used to it."

"Good. Because I'd like to stay there."

"How do we get back?" Carlos frowned. "How  _do_ we get back?"

"The same way I got in the first time. It seems that there's a rigt inn space-time right above Night Vale. I came through it when I was little. The ship has been sitting here since then, trying to find me. They brought me back through it. I brought you through it. Dinosaurs came through it a few months ago. A time traveler or two has gotten into it. And we'll go back through it. But first I have to tell everyone I'm going back."

They walked back inside, and Cecil searched out a family member, whom he communicated with in English and hand motions - she (?) spoke broken English, presumably because she'd been watching the general area of Night Vale for some time. Carlos tried not to listen, feeling a little intrusive, but he caught a few words, and gathered that she was Cecil's mother. She hardly looked at him, except to nod at him when Cecil turned to go. "My mother," he confirmed as they walked away. "She's not happy, but she recognizes that I'm an adult and she never really had any influence on my life in the first place. Not that it was her fault, of course. Just the way things turned out."

"You're really choosing Night Vale over your mother?"

"You did," Cecil pointed out. "She was in a coma and you left. Actually, you flew across the country for several years of college at the age of 18."

"You have a point," Carlos ceded. 

They returned home through the rift, which spat them out next to the library. People had stopped running and shouting now, and were simply staring. Not the way they stared at the void, though. There was wonder in their eyes instead of fear. And now it seemed almost too good to be true: he had Cecil and the stars. And knowing that there was an enormous spaceship/planet floating above their heads made the stars seem quite a bit closer, and just a little bit warmer.

They strolled toward Carlos's house. 

"Did you really mean it?" Cecil asked hopefully as they approached the door.

"Probably, but mean what?"

"That I could move in with you?"

"Oh. Yeah. You basically live here already, just move the rest of your stuff over and live here permanently."

Cecil walked in the house with wide eyes, as though seeing it for the first time. And he was, really - he was seeing  _his_ house, not  _Carlos's_ house. Carlos followed him around, the pre-dawn light beginning to seep in through the windows, giving Cecil's face a grey tint. 

Cecil made it to the bedroom, looking at the bed in the dim lighting. He flicked the light switch on, illuminating the room, and turned to face Carlos. He looked indecisive, eyebrows pulling together and bottom lip jutting out. 

"What's wro-" 

Nothing was wrong, absolutely nothing, Carlos decided when Cecil pushed him against the wall and shoved his tongue into Carlos's mouth. He could feel Cecil's boner, rock hard against his thigh, and groaned. Cecil shuddered, rocking his hips as he unbuttoned Carlos's shirt. He gently bit Carlos's earlobe and ran his hands up Carlos's now-bare chest, and back down to unbutton his pants. Carlos was already at Cecil's zipper, pulling it down shakily and sliding his hand under the waistband of his underwear. Cecil tugged away and tugged him to the bed, where he pushed Carlos onto his back and began biting his neck and nibbling his jawline. Carlos moved his hand around to grab Cecil's ass and pressed a finger inside him. Cecil slid his dick along Carlos's, and eventually lowered himself onto it. Carlos fit his hands around Cecil's bony hips and rocked with him until he pulled Cecil down, kissed him, and murmured, "I will never, ever, leave you." And Cecil came, making a mess of himself and Carlos, who followed seconds later. 

"We should probably shower," Cecil said with a blush. 

"Towels exist for a reason," Carlos countered, heading into the bathroom to grab two. He tossed one onto Cecil's stomach, after admiringfor a moment the long, pale body stretched out over the dark sheets.

"I thought towels existed to dry a person off after a shower?"

"Nah, just air-dry after a shower. Towels exist so that you don't have to shower after sex, when the only rational thing to do is sleep."

"The sun is up."

"So what, we've been up all night." 

"So what, a power nap?"

"No, we're throwing off our sleep schedules and sleeping until noon, at least." He settled down behind Cecil and wrapped an arm around his waist.

"What, not getting dressed either?"

"Nope." He nuzzled his face into the base of Cecil's neck and kissed his spine.

"What if the Secret Police come in to change the cameras?"

"I'll just have to tell them to stop staring at my gorgeous boyfriend. You can tell them to get the hell out and stop staring at your perfect-haired boyfriend. We'll manage."

"But -"

"Nope. No more questions. It's time to go to sleep."

"What -"

"No."

"But wait -"

"Hush."

"And if -"

Carlos reached up and covered Cecil's mouth. "Go. To. Sleep. We will be fine until we wake up. We are allowed to sleep. It can happen. Worry later. Sleep now."

Cecil sighed, defeated, and moved Carlos's hand back down to his stomach so he could interlace his fingers with Carlos's. 

And there they stayed, until noon had come and gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys this is the end of part three! And, believe it or not, there will be a part four. About what, you ask? Well, I have a question for you: if you were the president of the USA, and a vague yet menacing government agency agent came to tell you that a town full of homicidal, out-of-control tentacle monsters had just become part of your country and could (finally) be bombed, what would you do?  
> This part four might not be up for a little while. I still have three (busy) days of orientation; the only reason why I got this one done is because I skipped mass and a couple of the parent-child things, because I'm not religious and my parents aren't here. I don't know what we're doing for the next couple days, and don't know if I'll be so lucky.   
> As always, I post notices of updates on tumblr under the tag Julia's WTNV fanfic, and if you so wish, you can follow me at youreyestheyglow.tumblr.com.  
> Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I have some bad news. Wednesday morning, I leave for college. Not just college, but orientation for four days first. I have no idea how much time I’ll have with my computer, or how late I’ll be staying up, because unfortunately, I only get creative between 11 at night and 1 in the morning. Here’s hoping my roommate’s side of the dorm isn’t green-themed, because then even that time will be taken from me.  
> The point of this long-winded explanation is that I won’t be updating as often as I usually do, and might not update for several days. So don’t get worried. I haven’t abandoned the story, I’m just busy.   
> If I don’t get another chapter up Tuesday Night, then for now, good-bye, readers, good-bye.


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